It’s bare-root season here in Northern California’s rainy wintertime and I’ve been out planting more trees and shrubs in the garden. Besides any new fruit trees, I also plant out any potted trees or shrubs I’ve been holding on to–so they can start getting their roots down before the dry summer.
It’s always gratifying to plant a tree and watch it grow over the years and I’m sure everyone knows that planting trees and protecting existing forests helps capture and store carbon from the atmosphere.
But as it happens, there is an even more powerful carbon sink in nature, and it’s also something that we gardeners can make a difference about.
Peatlands
What is a peatland? Think bogs, fens, swamps, wetlands…although not all wetlands accumulate peat. (NYT)
Here is an official definition: “Peatlands are terrestrial wetland ecosystems in which waterlogged conditions prevent plant material from fully decomposing. Consequently, the production of organic matter exceeds its decomposition, which results in a net accumulation of peat.” (IPS) Peatlands occur on every continent and are diverse ecosystems.
And this is the jaw-dropping part:
Although peatlands make up just 3 percent of land on Earth, they store twice as much carbon as all the world’s forests combined.
Meet Peat, The Unsung Hero of Carbon Capture | New York Times
Pause. Peatlands store twice as much carbon as all the world’s forests combined. Wow. I have to keep reading that because it’s just so incredible. Apparently only the oceans top peatlands in their ability to store carbon.
And furthermore, peatlands can keep increasing their carbon capture. “Unlike most terrestrial ecosystems, peatlands do not reach saturation, and continue sequestering carbon in soil organic matter for centuries or millennia.” (Project Drawdown). Again, phenomenal!
Here’s the clincher: they store that carbon when they are undisturbed.
“In damaged or drained peat, organic matter is exposed to oxygen, which speeds up decomposition and causes carbon to leak into the atmosphere. Emissions from damaged peatlands account for about 5 percent of human-caused carbon emissions each year—roughly on par with total emissions from Russia.” (Sierra Club–Bringing Back Bogs). That’s about 1.9 gigatonnes of CO2e annually! (IUCN–Peatlands and Climate Change)
“It takes 1,000 years for a meter deep of peat to form. But not very long to destroy it.” (NYT)
Consider: peat is the precursor to coal. “Although peat is not strictly a fossil fuel, its greenhouse gas emissions are comparable to those of fossil fuels.” (Britannica)
So, even if peatlands were harvested and restored in the best possible way, substantial carbon is still being released in the atmosphere when you disturb them.
Indeed, restoration of harvested peatlands may be possible in many cases (and desirable), but that means that the land has been rewetted and living sphagnum moss has been regrown on the surface. This may take place in as little as 5 years or so. But it does not mean that the damage is reversed at that point.
Besides the destruction of the unique wetland ecosystem flora and fauna, disturbed peatlands can continue to emit CO2 for many years. “Overall, rewetting may slow down carbon losses to the atmosphere, but restoration of biodiversity and soil processes may take decades or longer after rewetting.” (Nature) As Linda Brewer, soil scientist in the Department of Horticulture in OSU’s College of Agricultural Sciences was quoted in this Oregon State University article on harvesting peat, “You could call harvesting peat renewable because some of the bogs are being replanted but it takes centuries for it to fully recover,” Brewer said. “The damage has been done and is continuing. It’s not eco-friendly.”
Given how close we are to climate tipping point warnings, it seems crucial to keep all possible carbon in the ground, undisturbed by harvesting for horticulture, agriculture or other land use. And that’s where we gardeners can help.
Awareness of Peat-free Gardening
In the UK, gardeners seem to have been aware of this issue for a long time, perhaps because in their region “…at least 80% of peatland habitats have been lost or damaged.” (Forestry England) A peat-free movement in the horticultural sector has taken place in the UK. I first became aware of the peat issue from watching Monty Don on Gardener’s World. They also did a great piece on peat moss with Arit Anderson in 2021 (I recommend watching that BTW). I’m not sure we are as keenly aware of the issue here in North America, perhaps because there are vast undisturbed peatlands in North America, particularly Canada. I know when I looked at the issue decades ago, I erroneously thought it was a supply issue that didn’t apply to us on the American continent.
Canada has about 25% of the world’s peatlands. So, as the Wildlife Conservation Society of Canada says, “That means Canada has an outsized opportunity to help the world address climate change by conserving peatlands. Right now, however, only 10% of the peatland area in Canada is formally protected, and other policy safeguards are inadequate outside protected areas.”
To reiterate, it isn’t a question of whether there is enough supply. The important thing is to keep it in the ground undisturbed, to protect the peatlands that exist, and to restore those that have been damaged.
We gardeners can help conserve those peatlands by going peat-free in our gardens, especially as the majority of harvested Canadian peat is used by us gardeners in the U.S. (NYT)
Going Peat-free in the Garden
As peat-free garden products are still in their infancy, it may require some sleuthing and creativity to discover alternatives.
Peat moss is in bagged compost, potting soil and other soil amendments, as well as peat pots, and in the soil the plants are sold in.
What you can do
- Let your local garden center or plant nursery know you are interested. Ask for peat-free compost or potting soil when next purchasing soil amendments.
- Read labels on bagged soil amendments to avoid any with ingredients listed as peat or peat moss, sphagnum peat moss, bog moss, peat humus, or horticultural peat.*
- Buy peat-free compost from a local community composting site (I recommend you find one that tests for plant-damaging contaminants like aminopyralid and clopyralid)
- Email your favorite soil amendment company and let them know that you hope they will produce some peat-free options.
- Make your own compost. See Sonoma County Master Gardeners for instructions.
- Mix up your own batch of potting soil. Here is a recipe for a general purpose potting mix from RHS.
- Check out the Further Reading links below to support peatland protection and restoration in other ways.
Experiment! The horticultural world is aflutter testing how best to replace peat in garden products. So join in and see what works for you.
Some ideas for materials: compost, worm castings, leaf mold (composted leaves), aged manure, composted bark, sheep wool waste, coir, perlite, rice hulls. Note: all materials have some kind of environmental footprint and plants have different needs, so, explore the options.
Since the U.K. is at the forefront of going peat-free, here is a useful page of info for gardeners from the Royal Horticultural Society. Just be aware that the bagged products they now have there are probably not available here in the U.S.
*Note: the term sphagnum moss technically refers to the top, living layer of vegetation in a peatland. It’s stringy with star-like leaves. It is harvested and dried for use like in the florist and houseplant sectors. The term sphagnum moss can be confusing because it so closely resembles sphagnum peat moss–which is the partially decomposed underlayer and the same thing as peat moss. I believe some innovators are attempting sustainable sphagnum moss farming, meaning the propagation and growing of the living sphagnum moss is done in a greenhouse or commercial space and not a native peatland. If any of you knowledgeable people out there want to comment on that, great.
I look forward to hearing from those of you who have already gone peat-free in your gardens and any tips you’d like to share, as well as ponderings and percolations between those just of us just starting to make the transition.
Happy Gardening! ~lisa
Further Reading on Peatlands — a fascinating topic (at least to this garden geek!)
Meet Peat–the Unsung Hero of Carbon Capture–New York Times
Q and A about Peat from New York Times
Peatland Protection and Rewetting–Project Drawdown
Bringing Back Bogs–Sierra Club
A terrific story-map of the Canadian Peatlands by Wildlife Conservation Society Canada
Hinterlands Who’s Who (a Canadian peatland)
International Peatland Society
Nature Journal–Ecological resilience of restored peatlands to climate change
Some resources for helping to preserve Canadian wetlands — from Nature Canada
Peat-free resources in Sonoma County
Inspired by Debbie Platt, a Sonoma County Master Gardener, (see her comment below) I am starting a list of peat-free soil products available in Sonoma County. She mentions that Cloverdale Nursery carries Seacoast Compost and Potting Soil which is organic, biodynamic and peat-free. Thank you Debbie!! 🌟 If any of you know of other organic, peat-free soil products in the area, please write in to let me know and I will add them to the new list on my Resources page.
Visit the gardening blog at The-Compulsive-Gardener.com
Hi Lisa, thanks so much for posting this important article. I have been very concerned about what has been happening to the pet bogs around the world for a long time. I live here in Sonoma County, in Cloverdale. Our local nursery, Cloverdale Nursery, now Carrie’s a wonderful product called SeaCoast Compost. They also now carry the potting soil. This stuff is amazing! I added the compost to my vegetable garden last year and the results were amazing! It contains no peat.
I am a Sonoma County Master Gardener. I found your blog by researching how to make homemade gopher cages. I loved your directions the best. You have a new fan!
Thank you!
Hi Debbie! This is a lovely surprise. Thank you so much for your appreciative feedback. I’m delighted to hear from you and glad the homemade gopher basket info was helpful. Someone asked me to make a video of that and I keep meaning to. I’m just shy of being IN the video! LOL. I’m also very heartened to hear that you too are concerned about the peat bogs and are a Sonoma County Master Gardener as well. I’ve been deliberating how to respectfully bring more attention to that issue in SoCo and even wider U.S. gardening circles. Please let me know if you have any ideas. I will make a note to add your info about the SeaCoast Compost to the post or in the Resources page. May I quote your name? That is a good recommendation of the compost results from a master gardener. I love Cloverdale and the nursery there and have it on the Resources page. Thanks again for making the effort to comment! -lisa
Great post about saving the peat bogs, Lisa! We’re lucky enough to live a few miles from Camosun Bog, which is protected here in Vancouver. Here’s a link to my blog post about it, way back in 2013: https://joiedusoleil.wordpress.com/2013/05/21/camosun-bog/
All the best for the New Year of 2024!
Oh great! Thanks so much! Am going to check that out. 🌟
Hi again, OK I just read your post on Camosun Bog. That’s so terrific that it is protected now and that it’s so close for you to visit! I loved your photos. I’m glad you shared this so I could see, and hopefully anyone else reading this that is interested. Thanks so much for reading and commenting and your new year wishes. Happy New Year to you too! -lisa
Thank you so much for this post. I had no idea of the importance of peat and was quite happy that the U.K. was peat free. What a surprise when I checked! See https://deframedia.blog.gov.uk/2023/03/24/media-reporting-on-peat-ban-for-the-professional-horticulture-sector/. It is going to take to 2030 for a complete ban because in 2011 it was thought that a voluntary movement would be sufficient. Surely that is indicative of how effective voluntary initiatives are? Amelia
Hi Amelia! Great to hear from you. I’m glad I’m not the only one that wasn’t aware of the importance of peat-free gardening. I felt a bit shy about admitting that because I’d heard a mention of it many years ago, as I said in the post. And so I thought maybe I was one of the few who hadn’t transitioned away from it.
Thanks for that link! Yes, I’d heard about the UK ban, but I’m not sure it’s happening in reality… see lisinmayenne’s comment below. Good point about the voluntary movement vs a mandate. And, I wish our local government would provide home compost bins. I think you and I were chatting some years ago and you said your local counsel does provide them, is that correct? Thanks for reading and commenting Amelia! Hope your garden and bees are doing well. -lisa
Yes, we are provided with home composting bins completely free. I have actually acquire some extra from friends who did not use them. The first ones provided free many years ago were wooden slatted ones – still in service. More recently they have provided us with plastic ones when they changed our rubbish collection Why the change from wood to plastic? It seems a backward step.
How great that residents there are provided with compost bins and even more wonderful that you’ve been able to acquire a few extra from friends. I wish we had that service here. And yes, what a shame–the move from wood to plastic.
A comment 3/4 Ireland, where the move to peat-free gardening is in full flow: the commercially available garden composts are now of quite poor quality, most with a lot of chipped wood as a bulking/filler material. On the home front, we produce 3/4 cubic metres of compost each year from garden waste. Everything possible is shredded to produce a hot composting heap and it has worked very well.
Please excuse the “3/4” typo in the first line!
I really appreciate your comment Paddy. I was wondering how it was going there with the peat-free issue. I’m sorry to hear the commercial composts are poor quality. I can well imagine. I hope they can improve over time and experimentation. I realize nothing is quite like peat. Well done for making your own great compost! I hope to follow your example.
Can I ask more questions so I can learn more from you? Like, does the amount of compost you are able to make feel sufficient for your needs? 3/4 cubic meters sounds ample. Is it? Also, has Ireland officially banned peat in horticulture or is the peat-free movement more voluntary? Details? If you wrote about this specifically in your own blog, feel free to mention the post title so I can search and read it. Thanks for reading and sharing your valuable information and experience. -lisa
Peat has not been banned in Ireland from compost for home use but all producers have reduced-peat composts or peat-free composts and pure peat is no longer available at all so the industry is ahead of legislation. Re my own home-made garden compost: I have three compost bins, each about 2.5metres long X 1.5m wide X 2m high. When each bin is full I cover it and leave it for several months, up to six by which time it will have reduced in volume. I use it as a mulch on the garden beds, to add to the soil when planting plants and have occasionally used it in pots – tomatoes do well in it – or mixed with bought compost in pots for seasonal display. It isn’t suitable as a seed compost as it will regularly have seed come through the composting process, despite it being a hot system. It is something I enjoy doing very much – using what is essentially waste to produce something good and of use. All cuttings, prunings, grass cuttings and all waste from the house – kitchen waste along with all paper, cardboard and the likes go into the compost bins. Our domestic waste collection service has a separate bin to collect all “green” waste but we have never used it as we use it in our compost bins.
Very interesting. Thank you! It’s good to know that the people there are so responsible that they’ve been going more peat-free even without a mandate! Sounds like you’ve got a nice hot compost pile going. So, you don’t turn the pile? It’s hot because you’ve compiled it well. Correct? It’s good to know how much you generate in relation to the size of your bins. I like hearing the enjoyment you get from using waste to make precious compost! We mostly do the same and I agree, very satisfying to use up everything possible. I do use the green bins for rose prunings. Do you compost yours? In my own case with compost, I’m trying to make super hot compost because I have to garden in high raised beds with gopher wire on the bottoms, or I’d never harvest any veggies. It’s an investment to build them and so I really prefer using soil that doesn’t have pernicious weeds in it, at least to start! 🙂
Yes, rose prunings and all other prunings go into the compost bin – but after being shredded first. I also shred all herbaceous material. Shredding is hugely beneficial and is what leads to the heat in the bin – and grass cuttings give great heat also but you need a good wide bin to spread these well or you need to mix them well with other material so as not to get a layer of sludge.
Wow. OK. I need to shred my roses. Thx!
This is an excellent post, Lisa, and one every gardener should read! Thank you for sharing. It’s true that there has been an awareness of the situation in the UK for sometime (I never bought peat-based compost when we lived there) and many gardeners have changed but products are still available and there’s plenty of greenwashing, of course. The UK government announced a ban on the use of peat-based compost in retail horticulture which accounts for 70% of use by 2024 but sadly, there’s no sign of it being implemented yet. Commercial growers (mushroom production, for example) have been given until 2030 so they have more time to come up with viable alternatives and there is much being done in that area. The situation is worse here in France, it’s hard to find peatless compost and there is strong opposition from interested parties to a ban on production or imports. Brexit has further complicated the issue since any plants imported/exported between the UK and the EU must be in a sterile growing medium, of which peat-based compost is one (coir being the other). I think as gardeners we have to vote with our feet and your list of suggestions is spot on ~ making compost is such a wonderful life-affirming activity! I would also add that we need to make sensible planting choices and grow what will thrive in the soil that we have. I read a comment from someone in the UK horticulture industry justifying the continued extraction of peat for compost because it would be sad if British gardeners could no longer grow ericaceous plants like rhododendrons and azaleas. Would it, really? Far sadder in my book if such precious and essential environments are destroyed and the planet burns!
Thank you so much Lis! I’m very glad to get your positive feedback and valuable information from France and the UK. I was wondering about the ban in the UK. I kept reading the ban for retail was in place for 2024, but confused as to whether it actually happened. And, wow, I’m surprised that it’s still hard to find peat-free products in France. Ah, the Brexit complication. Very good point about using plants that are harmonious with native soils. Also, thanks for mentioning the green-washing that is out there about peat. The industry PR messages are very tricky to sort through. No wonder gardeners are confused.
Thanks for sharing all this information! I knew about the importance of peatlands, but didn’t know the impact gardening could have. And thanks for the shoutout for my blog! 🙂
Hi Vanessa! Great to hear from you, and thanks again for allowing the use of your two gorgeous photos. Yes, I’m on a goal now to go totally peat-free in my garden, and I hope some other people will as well. Now that I’m done researching this post, I’m looking forward to reading more of your hiking blog! As a nature-lover with dodgy knees, I enjoy getting to experience nature hikes through others. 🙂 So great to connect with you! -lisa
I had no idea! Great post, thank you.
Thanks Jennifer! So glad you liked it. It was shocking and fascinating to read about peatlands while I was pulling together the information. Great to hear from you!